tales from thailand: Teaching in Thailand

So I figured I would write a post about teaching, since that is the primary reason for this trip (on paper anyway... the primary reason is really to experience a new culture and beautiful scenery but you get what I'm saying..)

I am teaching at Kanchanapisek Wittayala Nakhon Pathom Phratamnak Suankulap Matthayom school, Kanchanapisek for short. This is a public secondary school in Phutthamonthon, Nakhon Pathom Thailand.
Our school colors are purple and yellow, which are the colors of the princess because this school was a gift from the King to his daughter. There are just over 1,000 students at this school ranging from (U.S. equivalent) 7th-12th grade. In Thailand they are called Matthayom levels 1-6. I teach Matthayom 1, Matthayom 5, and Matthayom 6 which gives me a total of 21 classes a week. With my M. 1 students I teach english conversation and always try to wrap up the class with some sort of game.

My M.5 and M.6 students are learning english reading and writing which means that I have to teach them grammar and basic writing structure. Lets just say that my students aren't the only ones learning from these lesson plans... I basically had to re-learn sentence structure and sometimes my students have to correct me...oops...

Overall I am really enjoying teaching english to these kids. Some of my students are more advanced than others so engaging with the quiet ones or the rowdy ones is a daily struggle, but there is something pleasantly rewarding when you see that "aha" moment on a students face, like they all of a sudden understand what you're teaching and they're so pleased with themselves for figuring it out. I try to be as patient as I can with them, but when paper planes are being thrown out the window, or rulers are being thrown at other students, or badminton rackets are being smacked around... I get frustrated. Some of these kids are crazy ! And some of my M. 1s are so cute and well behaved... you just never know what each class is going to bring.

I really enjoy getting to know my students by asking them an attendance question every day about their interests. Its surprising how many of them love American musicians and films. Alexis and I also teach "english club" on Fridays with students who elected to take an extra english course. Last week we had a sing along to Justin Bieber's "Baby" and this week the girls have to coordinate a dance to perform for us, so most of the classroom experiences are positive !

Thai schools are very different than American schools. For one thing, they leave the doors open to all the classes and the hallways are like outdoor walkways (like at a motel). I only have 1 class in an air conditioned classroom, but thankfully our foreign language office has AC! The other biggest difference is the morning ceremony. Every morning the students gather outdoors in our "courtyard" where the Thai National Anthem is played as well as our school song. They also say a prayer every morning and various teachers make announcements about upcoming events at school. Sometimes the morning ceremony can last up to 45 minutes which is pretty brutal when you are standing outside in 90 degree weather at 8 am and you don't understand an ounce of Thai, but its interesting to learn about the cultural differences. Our first full week teaching, Alexis and I had to introduce ourselves to the entire school at the morning ceremony and accept a gift from the director. It was pretty intimidating !

Our students wear uniforms and have to keep their hair a certain way depending on their age. M. 1- M.4 female students have to keep their hair in a short bob between their ears and chin and must wear it down to school. M.5 and M.6 girls wear their hair longer, and pulled back in a pony tail with a bow. Mondays at school is "formal attire" so the students must wear these special hats to school and the Thai teachers wear brown suits. On Tuesdays, the students wear pink polo shirts with our school's logo. On Fridays, the students who participate in boy or girl scouts must wear their scout uniforms. Its very interesting to see how strict they are about these uniforms, I have seen teachers cut girls hair at the morning ceremony if it was too long! Also, every morning when the students arrive they must salute the teachers on welcome duty and have their uniforms inspected. The foreign language department has to greet them on Mondays so we have to be at school by 6:45 am... which means I have to buy a delicious iced coffee from our canteen for only 10 baht !

So far, teaching has been very enjoyable. I really like my students and the other teachers in our faculty are very kind and helpful. It is a very tiring job but it keeps me busy and I am really thankful for this experience. Hopefully I can say the same thing in March when the semester is over !